Stravaganza
City of Masks by Mary Hoffman is at heart a fantasy story, exploring how life might be different in a parallel world. But there are many different aspects to the story and if you want to read another book somewhat like Stravaganza then your choice will depend on what it was you liked about the book. Here are some ideas.
Parallel Worlds:
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (recently filmed as The Golden Compass) is the first book in a fabulous trilogy about life in a range of worlds, and the means (and risks) of moving between them. The discovery of many worlds really gathers speed in volume 2, The Subtle Knife, where the knife of the title is a magical and dangerous tool for travelling between worlds.
The Sterkham Handshake by Susan Price describes a tunnel which has been developed to return to the distant past with the idea of mining resources which are scarce in the present. First certain people are sent back through the tunnel to collect information and befriend the people. But if you are such an operative it is quite possible that you might actually start to bond with these rough and ready people of the past, causing some dilemmas.
Mister Monday is the beginning of a series by Garth Nix which continues with a book for each day of the week. Time is a theme for this engaging fantasy and the young hero, Arthur (a very heroic name), must surely be exhausted by the end of each book, let alone by the end of the week. His other world just looks like a house on the outside, but beware! Certain talismans from The House seem to help the asthmatic Arthur to breathe easier. Which brings us to the next theme…
Illness and the imagination:
Lucien is bedridden at the beginning of City of Masks, leaving him with too much time on his hands, although he is so weak all he can often do is sleep. Once he starts to stravigate to Bellezza he both exhausts himself and begins to regain his spirit and his physical strength.
David Almond’s Skellig is another book where illness seems to lead to restorative flights of the imagination – or is that thing in the old garage really a living creature? In this book it is the new baby that is barely clinging to life. This has profound effects on both her parents and her teenage brother. A mysterious and uplifting story.
In Gilbert’s Ghost Trainby David Metzenthen, Martin Dean is coming to terms with the death of his younger brother when the mysterious Gilbert makes his appearance. A gently told and healing tale.
The Girl from the Sea by James Aldridge starts with Beau, who is recovering from a debilitating accident, being sent from England to spend the summer in a seaside town in France where his aunt lives. Here he meets Lelee, a wild girl who challenges him to keep up with her. With a father who has been a smuggler she fears little in the sea that she loves.
Books about mysterious books:
The Book of Lies by James Moloney
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Inkheartby Cornelia Funke
The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick
Books set in Venice:
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Are we there yet?by David Levithan
Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz
The Flowing Queen by Kai Meyer
Lion boy:The Chaseby Zizou Corder
